Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, superintendents, school solicitors, principals, charter school leaders, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
These daily
emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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If any of your colleagues would like to be added to the
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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Jan. 12, 2021
PSBA Spring Virtual Advocacy Day - March 22, 2021
All public school leaders are invited to join us for our spring Virtual
Advocacy Day on Monday, March 22, 2021, via Zoom. Registration is available
under Event Registration on myPSBA.org.
https://www.psba.org/event/psba-spring-virtual-advocacy-day/
“They are not subject to the same costs.
They should not be subject to the same funding.”
Editorial: Crisis
further reveals charter funding absurdity
Times
Tribune BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Michael
Mahon, Ph.D., superintendent of the Abington Heights School District, had it
right recently when he called Pennsylvania’s laws governing charter schools the
“most outdated and unfair” in the United States. And he nicely summarized the
problem: “They are not subject to the same costs. They should not be subject to
the same funding.” The COVID-19 emergency has revealed anew how the legislative
Republican majorities’ refusal to reform charter school funding needlessly
enriches public charter schools, especially those that operate primarily
online, at the expense of conventional public school districts and taxpayers. As
reported by Sarah Hofius Hall in the most recent editions of The Sunday Times,
charter schools received funding from the first round of the federal CARES
pandemic relief package at the same rate as conventional public schools even
though they did not experience the same additional costs. As a result, many
charters had to find ways to spend the extra money, including giving $150
subsidies to families of enrolled students — an option that no conventional
school district could contemplate. The underlying problem is the state’s absurd
funding formula for public charter schools. When a student from any school
district enrolls in a charter school, his home district pays the charter a
tuition from public funds that is based on the district’s cost-per-student
rather than the charter school’s actual cost. The result is that districts this
year will pay more than $1 billion in tuition, which far exceeds the charters’
actual costs. Because of the pretense that charters should be funded like
conventional public schools, regardless of their actual costs, more than $40
million from the new round of federal pandemic relief likely will go to just 12
online charter schools, which will force them to find even more creative ways
to dispense the windfall. The need for charter funding relief and regulatory
reform was apparent well before the pandemic. That the legislative majorities
will not tackle it reveals an agenda to weaken, rather than strengthen,
conventional public school districts as a means to reduce the political power
of education-related unions, at the expense not only of taxpayers but students.
New PA House
Education Committee member roster has been posted
PA House of
Representatives Website
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/CteeInfo/index.cfm?Code=12&CteeBody=H
Announcing the launch
of the Pennsylvania Charter Performance Center!
The PA
Charter Performance Center, a project of PCCY, is dedicated to advancing a
Pennsylvania-specific, data-based conversation about charter school quality and
equity. The Center seeks to improve the quality of education, especially for
at-risk students, by producing unbiased, accurate, and timely information that
will build momentum for the adoption of sound state-level charter school
policy. Please join us for our kickoff event on
Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 12:00 pm where we see what lessons we can learn
from New Orleans. New Orleans radically remade its education
system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by closing nearly all traditional
public schools and replacing them with charter schools. Doug Harris,
author of the acclaimed Charter School City, will describe the
outcomes and unintended consequences of this experiment in the Big Easy. Register today for
what will be a lively discussion about charter schools and the role they play
in educating our children. Click here to learn more about the PA
Charter Performance Center and our work on behalf of PA's
children.
“Please join us for our kickoff event on
Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 12:00 pm where we see what lessons we can learn
from New Orleans.”
What Happens When
Public Schools Are Replaced by Charter Schools?
Public
Citizens for Children & Youth and The PA Charter Performance Center
New Orleans
has gone the way of the charter school over the past 15 yrs. What can PA learn
from this experiment & its impact on children? Join PCCY & the PA
Charter Performance Center to find. Registration: http://bit.ly/3b6k28j
Blogger note: Even after offering 10 times
my annual school board salary as an incentive, no member of the press has taken
up the challenge of tracing cyber charter lobbying spending….
“Lobbying disclosure in Pennsylvania
remains frustratingly incomplete, however. As it stands, the public cannot
currently see how much lobbyists spend to advocate on a specific issue — let
alone which lawmakers they lobby. All the public can see is how much a lobbying
firm (which often represents multiple clients at once) spends overall.”
New Pa. GOP leader
pushes transparency reforms despite party’s past reluctance, obstruction
Inquirer by
Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA and Brad Bumsted and Sam Janesch
of The Caucus, Posted: January 12, 2021- 5:00 AM
HARRISBURG —
In his first speech as top leader of the Pennsylvania Senate last week,
Republican Sen. Jake Corman positioned himself as a reformer seeking to restore
faith in government by greatly increasing transparency in the legislature and
by elected lawmakers. Transparency should be at the center of everything
senators do, he said, whether filing office expenses, raising campaign cash, or
dealing with lobbyists and dark money groups. Corman said he would support
lobbying reform to “clearly define relationships between legislators,
lobbyists, and political consultants.” He also stressed the need for what he
called “real-time reporting of campaign contribution expenses,” and suggested
stricter disclosures for nonprofit groups that engage in political activity,
which currently operate largely in the shadows. “I looked at what we could do
to restore faith in [our] institution,” he said in an interview. “I believe
moving forward, that is transparency.” But an analysis of his track record as a
ranking member of the Senate Republican caucus over the past five years reveals
more talk than action on government transparency. The majority party has faced
criticisms regarding how the legislature spends taxpayer dollars on its own
operations, campaign finance disclosures, and questionable ties to dark money
groups. Reform bills, meanwhile, have languished, even though Republicans
exclusively control the agenda for which legislation gets heard — and have for
Corman’s entire two-decade tenure in the Senate.
Blogger note: Senator Brewster has been
a member of the Senate Ed Committee.
Court postpones
ruling in Brewster-Ziccarelli election ballots case; decision expected Tuesday
JULIAN ROUTH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette jrouth@post-gazette.com JAN 11, 2021 6:01 PM
Residents of
Pennsylvania’s 45th senatorial district will have to wait at least one more day
before finding out if Democrat Jim Brewster’s win is validated by a federal
court. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan had said his court would aim to
decide the fate of a few hundred challenged ballots by Monday, but pushed it
back a day, according to a court order. The decision will land before noon on
Tuesday, the order read. Judge Ranjan will decide if Allegheny County’s
tallying of ballots that were missing printed dates on their outer envelopes
was constitutional. Republican candidate Nicole Ziccarelli is asking the court
to invalidate the ballots — which were otherwise correct and proven to have
been submitted on time. Having lost by 69 votes to Mr. Brewster in the Nov. 3
election, Ms. Ziccarelli wants the court to force the county to recertify the
results of the race for the 45th district without including the challenged ballots,
thus declaring her the winner. While the case is pending, the district is
without official representation in the Senate. Republican leaders in the
chamber refused to seat Mr. Brewster last week, insisting that they wanted
to let the federal case play out and give their members enough time to consider
Ms. Ziccarelli’s official challenge to the race certification in their chamber.
Beaver County
legislators placed in state leadership roles
Daveen
Rae Kurutz Beaver County Times January 12, 2021
Three
Republican state legislators representing Beaver County will serve in
leadership roles this year. State Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47, New Sewickley
Township; state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-46, Carroll Township, Washington
County, and state Rep. Josh Kail, R-15, Beaver, were all appointed to GOP
leadership roles this past week. Vogel, who represents all of Lawrence County
and portions of Beaver and Butler counties, will serve as Deputy President
Pro Tempore, a newly created leadership position. In that position, he will
serve as the presiding officer of the Senate in absence of Senate President Pro
Tempore Jake Corman, the former majority leader.
How should schools
teach kids about the U.S. Capitol insurrection? Six education experts explain
PA Capital
Star By Capital-Star
Op-Ed Contributor January
12, 2021
By David
Schonfeld, University of Southern California; Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Tufts
University; Kyle Greenwalt, Michigan State University; Paula McAvoy, North
Carolina State University; Sarah Stitzlein, University of Cincinnati, and
Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, West Virginia University
Teachers
scrambled to create lesson
plans to help students make sense of
the Jan.
6 siege of the U.S. Capitol right
after it happened. It’s a fraught
task. Even the news
media wasn’t sure what to call this unprecedented attack
on U.S. democracy. Was
it a coup? A riot? An act of domestic
terrorism? Likewise, it’s not clear where lessons
should begin. The Conversation U.S. asked six education experts how teachers –
and parents – can help young people comprehend, analyze and process what
happened.
The pandemic is
brewing a crisis for public school enrollment | Opinion
Fewer
children in kindergarten now is likely to have long-term, cascading
consequences for everyone.
Inquirer
Opinion by Taryn Morrissey, For the Conversation Published Jan 11,
2021
Taryn
Morrissey is associate professor of public administration
and policy at American University School of Public Affairs. This piece first
appeared in the Conversation, a nonprofit news source unlocking knowledge from
academic experts.
Public
school enrollment
is down across the country. For example, enrollment
dropped by 15,000 in Chicago public schools and more than 20,000 for the District of Columbia. The trend is
particularly acute among pre-K and kindergarten students. In an NPR survey of
60 U.S. districts in 20 states, public kindergarten enrollment was down
16% on average. The Philadelphia School District saw
enrollment drop by about 5,000 last fall, with 3,500 of those students being
kindergarteners. Delaying children’s kindergarten entry is not new, but the
pandemic has broadened its scope. And that has the potential to exacerbate
already wide educational inequities. As a child
and family policy researcher and a
parent of two children under 7, I find the new trend concerning.
PPS pushes student,
staff return date into February
ANDREW
GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JAN 11, 2021 9:43 PM
The
Pittsburgh Public Schools on Monday said it would push the targeted return date
for staff and students into February as a spike in COVID-19 cases is expected
following the holidays. The district’s plan still dictates that students would
be phased in over a period of time based on need. “We know coming out of the
holiday break that there will be a COVID spike, and the spike will not manifest
itself until around the 15th of January to the 30th of January,” Superintendent
Anthony Hamlet said during a school board meeting. “We know the numbers
will be extremely high at the date of the 30th.” The district said it will aim
for teachers to come back Feb. 1 and students to begin to return Feb. 8. That
was a change from the district’s plan coming out of the holiday break that saw
teachers returning Jan. 18 and students coming in on Jan. 27, the first day of
the second semester. Mr. Hamlet said the additional time gives school community
members extra time to quarantine as the region experiences a spike in virus cases.
However, it also means that most city students will go at least 11 months
without being in a classroom. Students with disabilities and English language
learners will be among those who are welcomed back first, but the district may
also prioritize students who are struggling with grades and attendance.
Some Lehigh Valley
school districts move away from final exams, saying the time would be better
spent on more instruction
By MICHELLE
MERLIN THE MORNING CALL | JAN 11, 2021 AT 6:55
PM
Some Lehigh
Valley high schools are eschewing final exams this year, saying they’d rather
use that time for instruction. Easton Area School District officials told board
members last week that the decision was motivated in part by feedback that
suggested that students were behind. Finals at Easton Area High School normally
take up a week, not including however long it takes teachers to prepare
students for the exams, district officials said. “The multiple days of review
teachers often have to take to make sure students are prepared for such an
examination would be better spent on learning the concepts and skills that we
were unable to tackle or students were unable to master based upon this new
instructional model,” said Michael Koch, the district’s director of secondary
education. Other districts, including Bethlehem Area, East Penn and Nazareth
Area, also decided to cancel high school midterm and final exams this year. District
officials said multiple factors contributed to the decisions, including wanting
more instructional time, wanting to lessen anxiety for students in an
anxiety-laden year, and wanting to ease the burden on teachers who would have
to recreate exams.
Valley View School
Board votes down full return to school for some students
Times
Tribune BY
KATHLEEN BOLUS STAFF WRITER Jan 11,
2021 Updated 37 min ago
The Valley
View School Board voted Monday against bringing students in kindergarten to
fifth grade and those in vulnerable populations back to their physical
classrooms on Feb. 1. “This is one of the tougher votes,” said Director Tina
Jezuit. “I’m sticking with my vote of erring on the side of caution. There’s
absolutely no right answer.” Jezuit, who said there are too many what-ifs to
vote yes, was joined by members James Addley, Laurie Marino, Joseph Farrell and
Vice President Thomas Owen in voting against bringing students back into
school. Board President Joseph Mondak and members John Evans Sr., Joseph
Koniszewski and Curt Camoni voted for a return to in-person classes. “My vote
is for the best interests of the faculty, staff, students and the community,”
said Marino. The district’s teachers union sent the board a letter stating that
they were uncomfortable returning to in-person teaching while COVID-19 cases
are increasing, Farrell noted. Students in the district have been learning
fully remote since the beginning of the school year in September.
Renaming of Lancaster
schools to be discussed at virtual meeting this week
LANCASTERONLINE
| Staff January 11, 2021
Renaming two
School District of Lancaster buildings will be at the center of a virtual town
hall meeting hosted by the district and YWCA Lancaster at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. District
officials are accepting suggestions for new names until Jan. 27 for its Southeast
Middle and Buchanan Elementary schools, according to its website. Names can be submitted at bit.ly/3qfjAJh. Directions
on how to join the virtual town hall are on YWCA Lancaster’s website at bit.ly/SDLrenamingZoom. The “Southeast Middle” name has been a
place holder since July, when district school board members moved to remove the
school’s former name, Edward Hand Middle School. The decision came after
pressure from members of the district community, who vocally found fault with
the building being named after Edward Hand, a Revolutionary War general who
owned slaves at his Lancaster home. The move toward a name change came after
weeks of civil unrest across the country, including in Lancaster, following the
police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in May in Minneapolis. In
July, District of Lancaster School Board President Edith Gallagher said
officials found it “difficult” that local school buildings were “named after
slave owners.” Also, up for discussion is Buchanan Elementary School, named for
President James Buchanan, who also purchased slaves and resided at Wheatland in
Lancaster.
Here are 30+ virtual
kid-friendly Pennsylvania Farm Show presentations
Lancaster
Online by JENELLE JANCI | Staff
Writer January 12, 2021
The
Pennsylvania Farm Show is always a great learning opportunity for our area’s
youth. There’s nothing like seeing livestock up close, being able to ask
farmers questions and experiencing displays like the butterfly tent. Things
look a bit different this year, as the Farm Show is virtual. But that doesn’t
mean the opportunities for learning stop. While all Farm Show presentations are
family-friendly, a few are created with young viewers especially in mind. Here
are Farm Show events geared toward young viewers, running today through
Saturday, when the Farm Show concludes. To watch, visit the Pennsylvania Farm
Show Facebook page at facebook.com/PAFarmShow or tune into the Pennsylvania Cable Network,
unless otherwise noted.
PSBA Spring Virtual Advocacy Day - MAR 22, 2021
PSBA Website January 2021
All public school leaders are invited to join
us for our spring Virtual Advocacy Day on Monday, March 22, 2021, via Zoom. We
need all of you to help strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center
around contacting legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public
education. Registrants will receive the meeting invitation with a link to our
spring Virtual Advocacy Day website that contains talking points, a link to
locate contact information for your legislator and additional information to
help you have a successful day.
Cost: Complimentary
for members
Registration: Registration
is available under Event Registration on myPSBA.org.
https://www.psba.org/event/psba-spring-virtual-advocacy-day/
PSBA Webinar: New
Congress, New Dynamics
JAN 14, 2021
• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The 2020
election brings significant changes to the 117th U.S. Congress. How will the
newly sworn-in senators and representatives impact public education? What
issues will need to be addressed this session? To become an effective
legislative advocate you’ll need to understand the new players and dynamics.
Our experts will profile key new members, discuss what big trends you can
expect and highlight the issues that will be debated over the next two years.
Presenters: Jared Solomon, senior public advisor,
BOSE Public Affairs Group
John Callahan, chief advocacy officer, PSBA
Cost: Complimentary for members.
Registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CQkk1Sd0QmOhdJ3VmlSzGg
https://www.psba.org/event/new-congress-new-dynamics/
Adopt the 2020 PSBA resolution
for charter school funding reform
In this
legislative session, PSBA has been leading the charge with the Senate, House of
Representatives and the Governor’s Administration to push for positive charter
reform. We’re now asking you to join the campaign: Adopt the resolution: We’re
asking all school boards to adopt the 2020 resolution for charter school
funding reform at your next board meeting and submit it to your legislators and
to PSBA.
Resolution for charter funding reform (pdf)
Link
to submit your adopted resolution to PSBA
337 PA school boards have
adopted charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 330 school boards across the state have adopted a resolution
calling for legislators to enact significant reforms to the Charter School Law
to provide funding relief and ensure all schools are held to the same quality
and ethics standards. Now more than ever, there is a growing momentum from
school officials across the state to call for charter school funding reform.
Legislators are hearing loud and clear that school districts need relief from
the unfair funding system that results in school districts overpaying millions
of dollars to charter schools.
https://www.psba.org/2020/03/adopted-charter-reform-resolutions/
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
https://www.pacharterchange.org/
The Network for Public Education Action Conference has
been rescheduled to April 24-25, 2021 at the Philadelphia Doubletree Hotel
Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization that I may
be affiliated with.
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